Hyperparathyroidism in patients with primary aldosteronism: cross-sectional and interventional data from the GECOH study

Abstract

Context: Experimental studies suggest that aldosterone induces hypercalciuria and might contribute to hyperparathyroidism.

Objective: We aimed to test for differences in PTH levels and parameters of calcium and vitamin D metabolism in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) compared with patients with essential hypertension (EH) and to evaluate the impact of PA treatment on these laboratory values.

Design, setting, and participants: The Graz Endocrine Causes of Hypertension study includes hypertensive patients referred for screening for endocrine hypertension at a tertiary care center in Graz, Austria.

Main outcome measures: Differences in PTH levels between patients with PA and EH.

Results: Among 192 patients, we identified 10 patients with PA and 182 with EH. PTH levels (mean ± sd in picograms per milliliter) were significantly higher in PA patients compared with EH (67.8 ± 26.9 vs. 46.5 ± 20.9; P = 0.002). After treatment of PA with either adrenal surgery (n = 5) or mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (n = 5), PTH concentrations decreased to 43.9 ± 14.9 (P = 0.023). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were similar in both groups. Compared with EH, serum calcium concentrations were significantly lower (2.35 ± 0.10 vs. 2.26 ± 0.10 mmol/liter; P = 0.013), and there was a nonsignificant trend toward an increased spot urine calcium to creatinine ratio in PA [median (interquartile range) 0.19 (0.11-0.31) vs. 0.33 (0.12-0.53); P = 0.094].

Conclusions: Our results suggest that PA contributes to secondary hyperparathyroidism. Further studies are warranted to evaluate whether PTH has implications for PA diagnostics and whether mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists have a general impact on PTH and calcium metabolism.